


Not So Shallow

by Nicxan



Category: Ghost (Sweden Band)
Genre: Meet-Cute, Other, Valentine's Day Fluff, Well they meet by him running into them but hey whatever
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:33:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22721764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nicxan/pseuds/Nicxan
Summary: Copia is very frustrated about how so many Siblings seem to think that generic cards and gifts will win his favor. No one really seemed to care about what he liked -- or even notice what he liked. One Sibling did, though.[Written for Angst/Fluff Week 2020.][Prompt was Valentine's Day.]
Relationships: Cardinal Copia/Sibling of Sin
Comments: 1
Kudos: 30





	Not So Shallow

**Author's Note:**

> Second to last one for [Angst/Fluff Week 2020](https://ghostbcfandomevents.tumblr.com/post/190451519061/angstfluff-week-schedule-more)!  
> Prompt was _Valentine's Day_.
> 
> Thanks to MaverickCheshire for looking this over and for the title help I was suffering
> 
> Enjoy, and happy Valentine's Day for people who celebrate it!

Cardinal Copia really didn’t think too much about holidays. Sure, he’d force himself to spend a little time with the ghouls on the big ones. If he didn’t, they’d be heartbroken, and he didn’t want that! But with everything that was expected of him, he just didn’t have the time to even consider them. There was too much to do.  
  
When the clergy collectively lost its mind over the whole Valentine’s Day ‘thing’, it was very easy to ignore. Of all the holidays he didn’t have time for, he especially didn’t have time for something like _this_. It had always been like that, really. Sister Imperator always told him he had too much to do, too much to learn. She wasn’t really wrong; he really couldn’t waste his precious hours on something so superficial.  
  
Valentine’s Day had _always_ been superficial. He couldn’t even imagine how it could be otherwise.  
  
His table was always covered in generic cards and letters this time of year. They had no soul, nothing that screamed ‘him’. It was always the newer Siblings of Sin just trying to win favors or something ridiculous like that. Copia always had to clear them off with a grumble, dump the junk in the trash, and then get to work. It smudged his calligraphy work, it buried the actual important paperwork. Satan alive, the fifteenth couldn’t come fast enough.  
  
Breakfast was the only time Copia had to breathe, relax, and prepare himself before tackling the rest of the work for the day. He always took his time with it and he took just as much time to walk back to his room. The sun was out this morning and it shone so beautifully, illuminating the grounds -- why _not_ take his time and look out of the window on the way back?  
  
He got his answer to that when he rounded the corner and slammed into someone.  
  
“ _Merda!_ ”  
  
Copia stumbled backwards, just barely catching himself so he didn’t fall. The Sibling of Sin, however, wasn’t so lucky. They had fallen back, yelping when they slammed their back on the tile. Copia rushed over to help them up, but slipped on something that was on the tile. He promptly face planted onto the ground in front of the Sibling of Sin.  
  
Merda. _Again_.  
  
“I swear I’m not usually this clumsy, just --” Copia forced himself up -- and was very relieved when he didn’t see makeup stains on the tile. That was the last thing he wanted: to have the ghouls have to clean the halls. Again. It took him a moment to remember that there was still someone on their back and that they were hissing in pain. “Are you all right?”  
  
“Yeah, I’m -- ow -- fine.” The Sibling sat up; they kept themselves balanced with one hand, and rubbed the back of their head with the other. Even though their hair was all over the place now, even though they grimaced in pain, they looked ... familiar. Copia put that aside for a moment to stand, and then help the Sibling to their feet.  
  
“Do we need to get you to the nurse? That sounded like a nasty fall.”  
  
“No, it’s all right, really, I ...” The Sibling glanced over at Copia with a smile, did a double take, and then their eyes widened in sheer terror. “Cardinal! Oh, no, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to --” They glanced around for a moment frantically. Copia looked on, confused, when they rushed over to a package that had slid across the hallway.  
  
Oh. That’s what he had tripped on. The Sibling must have dropped it when they ran into each other. Whoops.  
  
“Oh, no, oh no --” They picked it up and examined it carefully, turning it around to make sure nothing had been damaged. They sighed with relief -- apparently everything was fine -- but then they froze up all over again to look over at Copia.  
  
No, they really did look familiar. He couldn’t place why. Maybe he was staring a bit too much, but all he was trying to do was figure it out. Copia’s brow furrowed in concentration. Maybe they had briefly crossed paths at dinner? Maybe they were in the front row during a sermon? Maybe ...  
  
“I, uh ...” The Sibling gripped the rectangular package tightly. “Are you all right, Cardinal?”  
  
“Perfectly! Absolutely.” Copia nodded and smiled brightly. “What do you have there?”  
  
They looked so afraid when he asked that. Widened eyes, trembling hands, shaking knees, all of it. Why, he had no idea -- not until he noticed the hand-drawn heart on the package. ‘Oh, no.’  
  
“Oh, a Valentine’s Day gift?”  
  
The Sibling nodded mutely.  
  
“For who?”  
  
Their silence said everything. Copia struggled to form some words -- really, no, he didn’t need a gift, but it didn’t look generic. Clearly they had at least tried to wrap it themselves, and it was a package, not a card. Throwing away the generic things was one thing, especially out of sight, but --  
  
Oh, what to do?  
  
“I don’t know if you remember, but, um ...” The Sibling smiled awkwardly, clutching the package even tighter. Copia swore their hands were still shaking. “Remember about a week ago? I bought you your lunch when you were too busy to eat in the common area? Um, you were ... you were working on calligraphy. I mean, I saw you working on it.”  
  
Oh!  
  
“Oh, yes! Yes, I remember now! You were very sweet.” Copia’s hands fidgeted, but he did smile, genuinely. No, he remembered this Sibling very well. They had come in and fawned over his calligraphy. They gushed in a way that was so sincere, pointed out the way he drew the curves and designs around his letting, the ink color he used ...  
  
They had stayed quite a long time talking about it with him. And he hadn’t minded a bit.  
  
“Well, I figured ... you know ...” The Sibling of Sin hesitated before holding out the package to him. “I wanted to get you something nice.”  
  
Copia took it, curiosity overriding any annoyance he might have felt. This definitely wasn’t a generic card: the package had some heft to it, the heart was hand-drawn ... and there no hastily-scratched out price tag. Really, all of it was an improvement. He began to rip at the papers carefully, which became much less careful once he noticed the corner of a book.  
  
A calligraphy book. Two, to be exact -- one on different styles and tricks, and one book on the history of calligraphy itself. Copia’s eyes lit up with awe and surprise. ‘ _A genuine gift? Something that I like? That never happens._ ’ But it had. Copia could almost squeeze the life out of this poor Sibling with a hug.  
  
A thank you would have to do.  
  
“I’m very touched. This is ... so thoughtful. Thank you so much.” Copia looked up from his new books to the Sibling of Sin. Their entire body trembled at this point, their face beet red and clearly primed to --  
  
“ _I’mgladyoulikeitIhavetogo_!”  
  
\-- flee, like they did just then.  
  
“Wait! Come back! I don’t know your name, don’t know who to thank!”  
  
He left the wrapping paper on the floor when he rushed after them.


End file.
